They have never tried to go to the moon (or stated that as their goal), and their stated method of operation is to build and test a lot of designs and learn in an incremental fashion. That is EXACTLY what they have done. No big investments in gigantic solutions, no "hail mary" attempts. This makes the progress less-exciting for armchair enthusiasts...

Not this armchair enthusiast. I am on the edge of my seat every time Armadillo posts.

And on that note, I'm just glad the bizarre posturings of this Dan person are stimulating so many Armadillos to go into so much detail about it all. Matthew Ross, especially: you are in fact achieving your goal of educating the bystanders. Thanks.

let's talk turkey.
what's the ship to fuel weight ratio of the current AA tech?
and the actual Isp.
with that let's crunch some numbers on how much a vehicle must weigh in 2 or 3 stage to get 1, 10, 100kg to orbit. other than guesstimation on how much the atmosphere affects it I think those two values should be enough to figure it out.
maybe the result will be surprisingly exciting

What price point is it that you think should be obtainable? Do you consider the current list prices for the SpaceX vehicles as way out of bounds? You don't think that the 10kg package is the goal, do you?

So, let me expand the questions a little. What price point and what payload weight are you inclined to think is appropriate for Armadillo to pursue? I'm a business owner. To me, budget is everything. If I theorize that something is within budget, then I may go for it if there's enough of an ROI. Otherwise, it's just a waste of money.

You've mentioned before a concept of sticking a finger in the eye of the big aerospace firms. Is that your only goal or was that supposed to be a motivational reason? Surely you're not just a glory hound.

The post below was in response to a post on Dan's motivations that appears to have been pulled down. Not sure what that's all about, but it is explanation for the context of the post.

I saw it rather differently.

Dan appears to be focused on the theory that there is some grand conspiracy by every single aerospace company to perpetuate the belief that the industry is expensive and extremely complex. His personal belief appears to revolve around the idea that it is simple and relatively cheap.

Since Dan has been moderating his stream of insults and actually focusing on the technology and shortcomings, I have started to wonder what he thinks his goal is. For example, he may be entirely focused on his repeated theme of embarrassing the major aerospace firms and have no other end in mind. Or, as I expect him to indicate, he may have a more substantial plan in mind. A plan, cost, and complexity that exceeds Armadillo's desires or abilities. That's why I asked him what he thought his goal was in terms of payload to orbit and cost.

But, from the way Dan comes across, I'm inclined to believe that he just wants Armadillo to spend it's resources the way he says to, rather than the way they want to. His typical response to questions or criticism is insult or sarcasm. If he can get past that, he may very well have substantive ideas to communicate.

Marc, AA is also motivated by Nasa's failure. it's on their website. I'm just more aware of the problem than they are. It's not a conspiracy as such but you wouldn't be able to handle the true reason for this global phenomenon of stagnation. not to mention trigger happy administrators itching for an excuse to ban me.

if I'm such an ignorant troll and you are all so great, why don't you know the Isp and body-fuel mass ratio for AA's current best tech? these are crtical parameters for rocketry as far as I can tell and you should know them.

It's not a conspiracy as such but you wouldn't be able to handle the true reason for this global phenomenon of stagnation.

Ah, yes. I believe the inverse is true: Any reasons (for anything, really) presenting to you are unable to be handled by you. Most often by ignoring direct questions and authoritative rationale. And refusing to read relevant references. You've already shown us what little research and investigation you're capable of so it's unlikely one of us will wade through Armadillo's postings to find the information you desire.

Quote:

not to mention trigger happy administrators itching for an excuse to ban me.

I'm pretty sure I can handle that reason. A sure sign of a troll is cross posting (question about Isp) in hopes of higher visibility in one thread versus another. If not troll-like then certainly juvenile. Be assured that people read all updated threads in this forum.

[rant]
it is a bit funny, how he asks questions, he gets answer, but refuses to accept them as they do not fit into his perfect little work.

Dan, you have been told more than once I believe that the answers to many of the questions you ask can be found in the previous news posts on the AA website. If you were truly serious about everything you say, you would read them through YOURSELF. The world is not here to cater to your whims because you are too lazy to do anything yourself. Same with the other set of articles mentioned previously regarding TSTO methods.

Why do you ask questions when you are just going to ignore the answers?

"It's not a conspiracy as such but you wouldn't be able to handle the true reason for this global phenomenon of stagnation." - Dan
Oh? try me. Let's hear the true motivation behind all this, hell you can even PM me if you need to.

And if the admins are looking for an excuse to ban you, then you would be gone already.
[/rant]
M.Ravenwolf

if I'm such an ignorant troll and you are all so great, why don't you know the Isp and body-fuel mass ratio for AA's current best tech? these are crtical parameters for rocketry as far as I can tell and you should know them.

I don't think anyone here has said they were great.....apart from you of course.

Perhaps Marc does know those figures (although he doesn't NEED to know them as you seem to think)? AFAICT, yes, they are critical. Well done.

In fact, I know the figures (because I have read all AA postings). So, if you have a credit card handy, I would be happy to sell those figures to you. Or you could find them out the cheap way, and read through JC's postings yourself.

It's called real world economics, or 'There's no such things as a free lunch'.